Influence of N-hexadecyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium nitrate on the dehydrobromination reaction of 2-phenylethyl derivatives

The basis dehydrobromination of p-substituted 2-phenylethyl bromides promoted by hydroxide ion has been studied in micelles of N-hexadecyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium nitrate (CTANO₃). The pseudophase ion exchange model can be adapted to explain the kinetic results at low hydroxide ion concentration, i.e., less than 0.075 M of NaOH. At high hydroxide ion concentration in solution the applied model does not describe the kinetic results unless the empirical variations are applied for the mol ratio of reactive ion to micellar head group (β) and the binding constant of the organic reagent to the micelle (K_s).